'Persona 3 Reload' Release Date, Trailer, Story Content, and Platforms

The Xbox Games Showcase 2023 saw the official reveal of the long-rumored (and and Persona 3 FES, each included their own new content. Among plenty of other improvements, the most notable additions were a playable female protagonist in Persona 3 Portable and an epilogue chapter called The Answer in Persona 3 FES.

In a June 2023 interview with Famitsu, producer Ryota Niitsuma hinted that Persona 3 Reload would include some story elements added in FES, but won’t include The Answer. On its original release, The Answer was mostly disliked by fans, but its exclusion still means that Reload isn’t truly a definitive release.

Another major loss is the exclusion of Persona 3 Portable’s female main character (abbreviated as FeMC by fans). Some players, including Inverse’s Willa Rowe, argue that she’s a more developed character than Persona 3’s original male protagonist, and the announcement that the character wouldn’t make the cut was met with widespread disappointment.

What is the Persona 3 Reload story?

Time to head back to Tartarus.

Well, it’s a Persona game, so it’s complicated. Persona 3 Reload follows the exact story of the original release, which centers on the Dark Hour — an hour-long period that exists outside of normal time between one day and the next, where supernatural forces are afoot.

Each night when the Dark Hour arrives, a tower called Tartarus rises from the ground. Persona 3 Reload’s cast of high school students enter Tartarus each night to battle creatures called Shadows, using their Personas: manifestations of their own psyches that take physical form.

Persona 3 Reload’s story is an exploration of mortality, and each character will confront what that means to them personally throughout the course of their adventure.

What platforms will Persona 3 Reload be released on?

Persona 3 Reload’s platforms are a bit of a shake-up for the series. Persona 3 Reload will launch on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.

You may notice Nintendo Switch isn’t listed there. That means Persona 3 Portable will be the only version of the game available on Switch. It also continues the series’ new life on Xbox, which began quite recently with Persona 5 Royal.